Shopping cart abandonment is a major problem in the ecommerce industry, consumers add items to their shopping cart, go to the last phase of purchase and then decide not to go through with it. There are many potential reasons for this and it is an issue that ecommerce businesses avoid somewhat. However, simply accepting it as ‘one of those things’ means you are missing out on potential revenue therefore you can’t just sit back and let it happen. With a little work, it is possible to convert shopping cart abandonment into sales. Below are 5 tips on how to do this:

1. Email the customer

Find out if the reason why they chose not to go through with their order. Not only does this provide you with vital feedback, it makes the customer feel noticed. It is possible to gain sales from doing this but only if you act quickly, emailing them a week later is no good!

2. Offer a live chat service

This helps to make the whole purchasing process much more personal. Perhaps the customer abandoned their order because they had questions that were not answered on your site, a live chat option enables any issues to be resolved immediately and could persuade the customer to make the purchase.

3. Consider your shipping options

Shipping costs can have a lot to do with the abandonment of an order. Most consumers are looking for the cheapest deal therefore if shipping is expensive, it could deter people from going through with their order. Try to offer free shipping where possible or, if this just isn’t practical, try offering seasonal discounts on shipping or free shipping for bulk orders.

4. Raise customers’ trust

There are still many people who do not feel comfortable purchasing online. There are so many stories on the news about fraudulent activity that this can put customers off. You can gain customers’ trust by using a third party seal of approval to authenticate your store.

5. Returns Policy

For many shoppers, they are unsure about making a purchase in case it is not the right productfor them. If they are unsure about your returns policy, this could put them off completing the purchase. Having a link clearly displayed that highlights your policy may give the customer the reassurance needed to complete the purchase.

If these are things you haven’t considered, try them out. Get all the statistics for previousmonths so you have something to compare to. Ultimately, working a little on the above could help you gain more sales and maximise your profits in the long run.